Mission La Purísima Blacksmith

25 April 2015 (last updated)

Look at the map. If you’ve been moving bottom to top you have just finished a tour of the kitchen which places you close to the top of the map. But, the map just covers the major tourist area; there is much more beyond.Walk away from the buildings and you’ll encounter a vegetable garden, pig sty, and the blacksmith’s shop. Beyond that are some 900+ acres and 12 miles of hiking trails you can explore.

As you walk away from the buildings you encounter a vegetable garden. It is laid out as it might have been when the Mission was active and irrigated in much the same way. Note that there is a cistern to hold the irrigation water. Coming from that is a trough with holes cut into its side for the various irrigation channels. In the trough are diversion plates that either stop the water (if covering a hole) or divert the water (if placed across the channel by a hole). The plates are moved as needed to divert water where needed.

Picture taken 1:50pm 21 Jul 2001

Picture taken 1:50pm 21 Jul 2001

A little further on you’ll see the pig sty. This fellow had just been fed the leftovers of the tortilla making and took the opportunity to cool off in the mud.

Picture taken 1:55pm 21 Jul 2001

A little further on is the blacksmith’s shop. The blacksmith both lived and worked here.

Picture taken 2:05pm 21 Jul 2001

During Mission Life Day celebrations there is a working blacksmith at the shop and he makes souvenir nails for those who come out to visit him. The nails are made in the form they would have been made during the mission period.

Picture taken 1:55pm 21 Jul 2001

Picture taken 1:55pm 21 Jul 2001

Beyond the blacksmith’s shop are fields, orchards, and many acres of wild land.